He's fond of calling himself a genius. In this monologue, he explains that he's constantly fighting the media, who use the word "rapper" as a term of denigration to belittle his art ignore his poetic contribution to culture.

In this he may well be right.

However, he has a peculiar fascination, obsession even, with Apple. More than once, he has declared himself the "next Steve Jobs."

I am not sure he's quite yet risen to that assertion. Still, on this night in New Jersey, he decided to target Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Firstly, he explained that the reason he speaks directly to all-eared luminaries like Cook, Google's Eric Schmidt and Nike's Mark Parker is that "I've got a microphone and I can."

Impeccable logic, to be sure. (West has just left Nike for Adidas. Surely you knew.)

So here was his melodious, if malodorous, message to Cook: "Hey, Tim Cook, the Head of Apple, stop trying to get performers to play your festivals for free. You are rich as f***. You're rich as f***."